Hindu Philosophy Unit

The Hindu Philosophy Unit of the American Academy of Religion is pleased to invite proposals for the following sessions to be held at the 2026 annual meeting in Denver:

1. Philosophical Roundtable. This format brings together several participants to discuss a single argument or closely related set of arguments. This year’s roundtable will focus on questions of agency (kartṛtva) and moral responsibility. What does it mean to be an “agent” or “doer”? To what extent are human beings (and other living beings) in control of their actions? How does agency relate to selfhood or personal identity? As a starting-point, we will consider an argument from the 8th-century Jain thinker Akalaṅka. In his Tattvārthavārtika (or Rājavārtika) he criticizes the Sāṃkhya view that the self is an experiencer (bhoktṛ) but not an agent (kartṛ), while also steering away from the Buddhist doctrine of no-self. For Akalaṅka, agency requires consciousness (caitanya), and the one who performs an action must also be the one who experiences its “karmic” result:

"Only the self (ātman) can be the agent of an action (karma), and only the self can be the experiencer of its result. . . . Others think: 'The three guṇas are the agent, [and] the supreme self (paramātman) is the experiencer.' This is not reasonable, because that which is not conscious (acetana), like a pot, cannot be an agent in the domain of merit and demerit. Moreover, if one could experience the result of an action performed by another (parakṛtaphalabhoga), there would be the unwanted consequence of non-liberation and the loss of [the results of one’s own] actions. Therefore, it is reasonable that only the one who is the agent is the experiencer.” (Tattvārthavārtika 2.10.1: ātmaiva karmaṇaḥ kartā, tatphalasya ca ātmaiva bhoktā . . . anye tu “traiguṇyaṃ kartṛ, paramātmā bhoktā” iti manyate; tad ayuktam; acetanasya puṇyapāpaviṣayakartṛtānupapatter ghaṭādivat. parakṛtaphalabhoge cānirmokṣaprasaṅgaḥ syāt kṛtapraṇāśaś ceti. tasmād yaḥ kartā sa eva bhokteti yuktam; trans. adapted from A. Bajželj, “Selfhood, Persistence, and Immortality in Jaina Philosophy,” Religious Studies 60 [2024]: S28) 

Participants are welcome to consider responses (or possible responses) from any philosophical school (Jain, Sāṃkhya, Nyāya, Vedānta, Buddhist, etc.) and to take a variety of approaches​ (focusing on philosophy of action, ethics, metaphysics, etc.). The goal of the format is to create a space for lively and rigorous discussion, rather than full paper presentations. In lieu of paper proposals, therefore, we instead invite prospective panelists to offer a brief assessment of Akalaṅka’s position and to describe the approach they would bring to a roundtable discussion of agency and moral responsibility.

2. Traditional Papers Session. For this session we are looking for individual paper proposals rather than full panel proposals. We are open to a wide range of topics, periods, and approaches. Possible topics include but are by no means limited to: scriptural authority, the ontological status of dreams and reflections, early Vaiśeṣika, assumptions shared across philosophical schools, Hindu-Jain debates, developments in modern Indian philosophy, subjectivity and selfhood, epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of materiality, philosophy and literature, and philosophy in vernacular texts. 

3. Possible Co-sponsored Session. We are also interested is possibly co-sponsoring a session with the Yoga in Theory and Practice Unit, either on the topic of yogic perception (contact person: Alberta Ferraro, albertaferraro@gmail.com) or on the topic “Engaging Sāṃkhya: Historical Perspectives and Future Directions” (contact person: Geoff Ashton, gashton@usfca.edu), with a focus on the ways in which other philosophical schools responded to Sāṃkhya.